Destined To Die
by Contrary To Popular Belief 3
Summary: Three cats were destined to die when they were only kits. Yet their death resulted in one of the most important rules in the warrior code, a rule that ensured the safety of all kits, a rule that saved countless lives. What if the three kits lived? What if the secrets that were forced to die with them were suddenly revealed? (Minor spoilers for Code of the Clans. R&R!)
1. Prologue

"Fallowclaw!" A tortoiseshell she-cat slid out of the river by the gorge, the moonlight dappling off her wet fur.

Fallowclaw, a brown tabby tom, stood up, his tail flicking eagerly. "Ivymist!" He kneaded the pebbles between his paws anxiously, but dared not approach the foaming river.

Ivymist purred, weaving around the larger tom. "Surely, after all these moons, you're still not afraid of water?" She shook her coat, showering the other cat in water.

Fallowclaw flinched as the tiny drops of water hit him. He fluffed out his fur, knowing the chill they could bring. "We both know that-"

"-This isn't our only problem, Fallowclaw." Ivymist's tone grew serious.

Fallowclaw blinked down at his mate lovingly. "Well, of course. You're RiverClan and I'm-"

Ivymist interrupted him yet again. "I'm the _deputy_ of RiverClan now."

Fallowclaw blinked at her, the moonlight glistening through clouds and turning his darker coat to silver. "That isn't going to change anything. I've been the deputy of WindClan for moons now."

"That's not the point." Ivymist tipped back her head to observe the stars glittering from the skies above. She drew her attention back to her mate as one of the waves slapped loudly against one of the rocks in the river. "One day, we'll both be the leaders of our Clans. And when that day comes, this…can't be happening anymore."

Fallowclaw gazed at her in shock, taking a pace back as though he had never seen the she-cat standing before him in his life. "What are you saying?"

Ivymist took a deep breath, knowing the wounds she was about to inflict with words would run deeper than any damage done with teeth or claws. "I'm saying…this is over."

Fallowclaw stared at his mate in disbelief. Ivymist felt her heart tearing in two, knowing that the tension rising now between them would last for seasons to come.

Fallowclaw threw back his head and let out an angry yowl. "I thought you cared!" He hissed, his eyes turning to slits. "I thought you were different. But you are just like all of them, caring only for yourself and your ambition."

Ivymist felt her hackles rising and her tail bushing out as she snapped at the cat that she loved. "If you were so thick as to think this would work in the first place, you're bee-brained! Do you think that this isn't hard for me too?"

Fallowclaw didn't answer. He whirled and glared up at the moon, then padded out to the edge of the clearing. He turned to face his former mate for the last time. "Have it your way, _Ivymist._" He spat the last word as if it was a curse.

Ivymist felt her mind whirling with many emotions, her belly twisting. _Perhaps I should have told him the other bit first._ "There's….more."

Fallowclaw gave her one, last, contemptuous gaze. "We have nothing more to say to each other." And with a whisk of his tail, he was gone.

Ivymist let out a small wail of desperation and sank to the ground. She stayed there all night, until frost gathered on the tips of her fur.

_How will I ever tell him I'm expecting kits now?_

**EPIC LINE BREAK HERE**

Ivymist let out a wail of pain, her fur standing on end. The stick that her medicine cat Graywing left in her jaws splintered in her teeth.

A final wet bundle slid into Ivymist's nest, mewling piteously and nuzzling into her belly.

"Well done, Ivymist." Graywing's kind face floated before her eyes. "Two toms and a she-cat! The father must be very proud." She looked about the nursery. "Say, who is the father?"

Ivymist let out a long, tired breath and drew the kits into her side with her tail. "There is no father," She whispered drowsily. "Or at least none that matters."

**EPIC LINE BREAK HERE**

Ivymist hauled the smallest kit, the she-kit, out of her nest. She gently pushed the other two kits in front of her, ignoring their cries as her stomach churned.

_This is it. This is where he said good-bye._

"Where are we, mama?" The she kit asked, gazing up at her with huge, trusting eyes.

"Hush, little one." Ivymist placed her gently on the ground with a bump. She backed away from the three kits.

"Where are you going, mama?" The smaller tom meowed, confused and heart-broken.

Ivymist felt her heart breaking once more. "Nowhere, little ones. Just be quiet, and wait until someone finds you." And with that, she turned and ran, ignoring the cries that trailed behind her in the night.

She waited until she arrived safely in her nest, back at camp. Only then did she let out a sob. She only lifted her head when the sun rose above the RiverClan camp.

There was only one thing left to do.

"_My kits! Where are my kits?!"_

**Please read and review (I hope you guys are a lot better at this than the people on the Percy Jackson fandom)**


	2. Chapter 1

_"Come, little one."_

_Smallkit reached out to nuzzle his mother, to feel her… he heard a purr and the patter of pawsteps as she raced away from him, her face unseen._

_"Come back!" He called, trying to run after her. Her voice was only just out of reach, and he raced faster and faster, trying to catch up…_

"Smallkit, do you want to explore the camp or not?!" Wolfkit's impatient voice sounded next to his ear.

Smallkit stretched in his nest, tasting the air longingly for any trace of his absent mother's scent. But as quickly as it came, it was gone.

His sister was waiting for him as he clambered out of the nest they shared with their foster mother Gorsewing, twitching her pale gray tail impatiently. "Come on! Runningkit's already outside."

Smallkit shook his head to clear it. "He is?"

Wolfkit rolled her eyes. "Honestly, if you were any slower you'd be a RiverClan cat! Today we finally get to explore camp!"

Smallkit smoothed his black and white pelt with his tongue. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

"You!" Wolfkit purred, shoving her brother playfully. Before he could retaliate, she slipped outside, Smallkit on her tail.

As soon as he stepped outside, Smallkit stopped cold and gazed around in wonder. "The moor is so…"

"Big." Wolfkit supplied.

This was the home of WindClan, the greatest Clan of all. _And I'm one of them,_ Smallkit thought proudly. The moor stretched in every direction, where the rabbits Gorsewing told about roamed and the cats of WindClan had hunted for longer than any elder could remember. Smallkit opened his mouth to taste the air, relishing the strange, new scents that entered his mouth brought by the breeze.

"Are your paws stuck to the ground?" Runningkit, Smallkit and Wolfkit's brother asked. "You aren't going to see much by just standing there! There are the tunnels, the rocks, the heather.."

"How would you know?" Wolfkit snapped. "You've only been out here ten minutes longer."

Runningkit snorted. "Breezepaw told me." He nodded to a light brown tabby tom sitting down with a pretty black apprentice.

Smallkit interrupted his siblings before Wolfkit got touchy. "Show us."

Runningkit opened his mouth to reply, but a deep voice spoke from behind the moon-old kits. "Are you sure that would be the best idea?"

The three kits whirled to see a large dark brown tabby tom standing behind them. Smallkit felt his littermates shrink back on either side of him in fear. Smallkit saw a flicker of amusement in the eyes of the older tom.

"I'm not going to eat you," He purred. "I'm Fallowstar."

**EPIC LINE BREAK HERE**

_This must be the leader,_ Smallkit thought. _Is everything in WindClan bigger than me? _He wondered. _Well, duh. I was named Smallkit for a reason._

He gazed at his leader in awe. Wolfkit, however, soon grew bored of staring and disappeared behind the nursery, presumably to fetch a moss-ball. Runningkit averted his leader's gaze and fixed his eyes on the ground.

But Smallkit stared up, straight into his leader's dark amber eyes. Only amusement filled them…and maybe curiousity?

"Smallkit, come back to the nursery and stop bothering Fallowstar!" Gorsewing called from the nursery. "I need to talk to you."

Smallkit blinked, as though coming out of a trance. "Coming, Gorsewing," He called back. A flicker of bewilderment passed across Fallowstar's face, and Runningkit, too was looking at his brother strangely. _Okay then…_ He scampered back across to the WindClan nursery, which was empty.

"Gorsewing!" He mewled, puzzled.

"What is it?" Gorsewing's mew sounded from behind him.

Smallkit whirled to see his foster mother. "Did you call me?" He asked, confused. _Gorsewing's in the entrance…how…_

Gorsewing shook her head. "No, Smallkit. But as long as you here, you should probably take a nap. You've had enough exploring for one day."

"What did you want to talk about?"

"I didn't call you, Smallkit. Now go to sleep."

**EPIC LINE BREAK HERE**

_"Daisytail, Hawkfoot," Poppycloud nodded in greeting to each she-cat. _

_Hawkfoot glanced at the former SkyClan she-cat with mixed emotions in her eyes. "Poppycloud, why have you called us here?" _

_"I called us here," Daisytail corrected. "Whether we like it or not, we must discuss the code that we helped form."_

_"There is no similarity between the two rules that the three of us helped form," Hawkfoot stated, puzzlement in her eyes._

_Daisytail narrowed her eyes. "Not the code already formed, rabbit-brain," She hissed. Hawkfoot took a step back in surprise at her friend's hostility, but held her tongue. "I'm speaking of the kits that have yet to die."_

_Poppycloud's fur bristled. "They do not have to die for that part of the code to be formed!"_

_Daisytail twitched her ears. "You do not see the future as clearly as me. It is not only for the code. I do not wish for kits to die either, but…"_

_Hawkfoot brushed her friend's pelt comfortingly. "They do not have to drown. We can save them…Bend the future."_

_A thunderclap echoed throughout StarClan at those words._

_"We can save them…and be guardians of younger lives."_

**Sorry about the awful chapter (especially the end) It gets better for the next few chapters though.**

**Send in names for WindClan and RiverClan warriors! I will accept other Clans (SkyClan has not disappeared at this point) but they will not appear as often.**

**Reply to Reviews:**

**Jayfeather Rocks- TOTALLY inspired by Bluestar's Prophecy. **

**Icefeather- I'm glad you like it!**

**Feralclaw- Thanks.**

**Important: Updates will be slow, as it is my birthday this week and I have my first basketball game. In addition, I am only allowed half an hour a day. **

**You guys are so AWESOME!**

**~Silver**


	3. Chapter 2

Wolfkit slid out of the nursery, careful to not disturb her littermates, Gorsewing, Gorsewing's kit Aspenkit, or Briarwind, who had moved to the nursery three moons ago to give birth to Brambleheart's second litter. **(A/N: Briarwind and Icefeather, I hope you don't mind, I changed some of the ages so there wouldn't be an insane number of apprentices later on.) **She lifted her head to face the rising sun, the first rays bleeding over the WindClan camp. She fluffed up her fur to avoid the dawn chill.

Wolfkit glanced over to the camp entrance. She and her littermates were almost five moons now, and she was growing impatient. She wanted to leave the camp and explore the territory.

_Especially the gorge._ If she had heard the elders right, which she couldn't be sure of, as it was quite obvious they had tried not to let her hear, her parents had dropped her and her littermates there when she was only a kit. Wolfkit was determined to one day find the rest of her family, and perhaps clues had been left behind at the gorge.

She glanced over to the camp entrance to see who had been on duty the previous night. Finchflight stood there, facing away from her. Wolfkit's paws prickled with excitement. Now was perfect!

"Wolfkit!" Wolfkit inwardly groaned as she heard her name. She turned to see Breezepaw padding towards her, eyes glimmering with amusement. "Not thinking about sneaking out of camp, are you?"

Wolfkit bristled, but forced herself to keep her fur flat. "No, I wasn't! And if I don't remember correctly, you were only a kit five moons ago too!"

Breezepaw sat down, casually licking one paw and drawing it over his ear. "You weren't alive then. And I don't blame you, it's tough being stuck in camp," He added sympathetically.

"I wasn't..." Wolfkit spluttered. "Fine, I was thinking about it. So what?" She mewed defiantly.

Breezepaw shrugged. "Just don't even think about going to the gorge."

"Why not?"

"It's dangerous. Most apprentices aren't even allowed near the gap."

Wolfkit glared. "You do!"

"I said _most._"

Hollypaw, the black apprentice from four moons ago and Breezepaw's denmate, padded out from inside the apprentice's den, shaking scraps of moss from her pelt. She picked a rather scrawny rabbit from the fresh-kill pile and called over to Breezepaw, "Want to share?"

Breezepaw nodded and flashed another concerned glance at Wolfkit before padding away. Wolfkit lifted her tail with indignation and sniffed as more and more cats began emerging from their dens and filling up the hollow. _I don't need his concern! I'm going to be leader of WindClan one day! Leaders don't need apprentices looking after them. _

"Wolfkit!" _What now?_ She sighed. She turned to see Aspenkit sitting beside her mother, wriggling with excitement as Gorsewing scolded her quietly, licking a tuft of fur between her ears. Aspenkit shook her mother off and bounded over to Wolfkit.

"It's my apprentice ceremony today!" Aspenkit squealed, working her claws in the clumps of grass between her paws.

She looked so excited, Wolfkit felt a twinge of jealousy in her stomach."That's great!" She mewed, trying to sound glad for her denmate and best friend.

Aspenkit could hear the sadness in her voice and laid her tail on Wolfkit's shoulder. "It's only going to be a moon," she mewed sympathetically.

Wolfkit nodded. "Yeah."

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Tallrock for a Clan!" Aspenkit let out another squeal and dashed towards the center of the clearing. Wolfkit padded to the edge and met up with Smallkit and Runningkit.

"Where were you?" Smallkit hissed, his eyes fixed on the ceremony. "I woke up and you weren't in your nest."

"I wanted to-"

"Shut _up!_" Runningkit whispered furiously.

Wolfkit turned her attention back to the ceremony.

"Aspenkit, from this day forward, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Aspenpaw."

Aspenpaw gave a little skip of delight at the sound of her new name.

"Your mentor will be Cloudfoot. I hope Cloudfoot passes down all he knows to you."

Cloudfoot, a gray and white tom Wolfkit had met once or twice before, stepped forward, amber eyes calm. Only a flick of his tail portrayed his excitement. _A moor-runner,_ Wolfkit observed wryly. _Good thing. Aspenkit's built for it._

"Cloudfoot, you are ready to take on your first apprentice. You received excellent training from Mudnose, and have shown yourself to be quick-thinking and loyal. You will be the mentor of Aspenpaw, and I trust you to pass down all you know to her."

Aspenpaw's eyes flashed with anxiety as Cloudfoot touched noses with her. Her new mentor murmured some comforting words in her ear, and Aspenpaw's excitement and energy returned.

"Aspenpaw! Aspenpaw!" Wolfkit cheered.

Wolfkit waited until the cheering faded. She turned to her brothers. "I wanted to go to the gorge."

Smallkit's eyes flew open with shock. "But that's dangerous!"

"No kidding," Runningkit snorted with laughter.

Wolfkit opened her jaws for a stinging retort, but shut up as she heard Cloudfoot say to Aspenpaw, "Come on. I'll show you the territory." She watched enviously as they left through the entrance to camp.

Runningkit nudged her. "You wanted to go to the gorge. Now's your chance!" For once, even his eyes gleamed with anticipation.

Wolfkit's paws shook with excitement. "I'm in."

Runningkit flicked his tail happily. "Me too."

Their smaller brother scowled at his siblings. "You both have bees in your brain." He sniffed.

Wolfkit rolled her eyes. "Shut up, we all know you're coming anyways."

Smallkit huffed, glaring at the ground between his paws. "What are we waiting for again?"

**There! Extra long chapter for you guys (Even if most of it is just a ceremony)! I'm so happy so many people reviewed, you have no idea how much this means to me.J J Winter break started, so the next chapter will come soon. It should be a fun one to write, cause SPOILER the one after that is when everything goes down. Also, thanks for all the birthday wishes! I did have a great birthday, thanks, and it was even better with your help to the story. What is a story without the readers?**

**Reply to Reviews**

**xXJayfeatherRocksXx- It didn't go that well. We lost 42-7- Only our first game though. Thanks for waiting; I thought I was never going to get this chapter up. Also, its not a one-time thing, with Smallkit. I wanted to work that in with Wolfkit this chapter, but I couldn't fit it in. The end of Chapter One is a tiny clue, though. ;)**

**Tansyheart- Thanks for the names! I'm a big fan of yours, especially the Yellowfang and Nightcloud Show. I also stalk Warriors Wipeout on the forums as a guest, cause my parents won't let me get an account. :( **

**Clearflight- Thank you, I used Finchflight in this chapter. You and Tansyheart both suggested the name, so I made sure I included him.**

**Icefeather- Thanks! I hope you don't mind that I changed Aspenshade's age, I wanted to make an excuse for the kits. And yeah, that's DEFINETLY enough names. xD**

**Briarwind- Thank you! It's an idea I've had for a while and FINALLY decided to use, despite the 3 pages of story ideas I keep in my L.A binder. xD I hope you don't mind that I split the litter in half, I wanted some younger friends for our three protagonists when they get older, and some helpful older friends for early apprenticeship.**

**Feralclaw of MorningClan- Thanks for the name!**

**For our disclaimers, I would like to introduce my RL friends, Raintalon, Brambletail, and Blackshadow!**

**Rain: Silver, what the heck are we doing in your fanfiction?**

**Bramble: AAAAHHH! RAINY! *hides***

**Black: -.- Seeing as this authors note is getting long, I will do it now and you can see our randomness later. Silver does not own anything you recognize. OR THE CATMINT! GET AWAY!**

**Read and Review!**


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